Fire Truck on Tracks Gets Slammed By Speeding Train [Video]

A Detroit firefighter inspects the damage after an Amtrak train headed to Chicago struck a Detroit Fire Department ladder engine at Lonyo and Kronk in Detroit today.

Detroit Free Press via YellowBrix

March 02, 2010

“They couldn’t move it, and the train just crunched it,” McLean said. The ladder on the fire truck “flew up over top” of the train, he said. “I never heard nothing like it in all my life.”

The Chicago-bound train had left Pontiac at 10:40 a.m., stopped in Detroit at 11:36 a.m., and then slammed into the ladder truck on its way to Dearborn, Magliari said.

Four crew members and 65 passengers were aboard the train, the engine of which sustained some visible damage. At least one passenger was taken from the train on a stretcher, but officials said the injuries were minor.

The wreck threw the train off schedule at least three hours, as it had been set to arrive in Chicago at 5:16 p.m, but it didn’t arrive in Dearborn until 2:58 p.m.